Category Archives: Neighbor Meetings

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During this Labor Day weekend, volunteers will be hand delivering the Summer Newsletter. If you don’t live in the neighborhood and want to see what is happening, you can see or download a copy by clicking this link:

The Irish Hill Neighborhood Association depends upon you, its members, to make it effective. Be a part of all the positive developments in Irish Hill by joining or renewing your membership to the Neighborhood Association.

Membership dues are only $5 household/$20 business per calendar year (January 1st through December 31st). Per our By-Laws, you must be a member by July 31st in order to vote for the Board of Directors or sit on the Board of Directors. Members starting after June 30th in any year can still vote on any other matter when the occasion is needed.

On Wednesday, November 14, 2012, the Irish Hill Neighborhood Association (IHNA) held its November Neighborhood Meeting a week early to help facilitate a discussion between residents of Irish Hill and the owners/management of Phoenix Hill Tavern (PHT). The meeting was held at Gilda’s Club Louisville

Starting in early October of this year, several comments were made on social media about criminal activity that people believed was stemming from patrons of PHT. Ben Rogers and the management of PHT quickly suggested a meeting to address these concerns and IHNA agreed.

Rogers spoke to three areas: Inside the Club, Outside the Club and Ideas for the Future.

Inside the Club (be it Wednesday night or other special event nights):

Off-duty Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers stationed throughout the building. There are currently 4 officers. PHT is increasing to 6 officers. Pat downs and metal detector wands are used on all patrons.

ID scanners are used at the front and back door. Each scanner is updated regularly with patrons who are on the “ban list.” Patrons are put on the ban list for a variety of infractions, both criminal and simple misconduct, and are given written notice of their status.

There is a cover charge, varying depending on day of the week and time of the evening. “Pass” to go in and out is no longer allowed. Patrons who leave are required to pay again to return, which discourages “in and out” activity.

There are 30-35 cameras throughout the facility.

There are cameras that record patrons entering the Club. These DVDs are kept on file.

DJs are trained with a “last call” speech, which encourages patrons to be good neighbors, not to litter or make loud noises on the way home.

Signs are posted at the doors encouraging good behavior.

Outside the Club:

A patrol car rides through “the yellow zone,” a 3-block radius around the club, which includes Rogers St., Payne St., and Rubel Ave.

Owners, management and staff pick up litter.

PHT has repaired damage to property when it has been brought to their attention.

Before Rogers spoke to the Ideas for the Future, one of the off-duty LMPD Officers explained their role at the Club, and then the 5th District LMPD District Recourse Officer (DRO) spoke about LMDP’s presence.

Police Officers:

2 officers at the front door

2 officers at the back door

1 or 2 marked patrol cars, with 2 officers each.

The goal of the on-property officers is to get patrons out of the club at closing time.

Car patrols continue until the parking lot is mostly empty at closing time.

LMPD’s Presence:

The 5th District is broken into 5 different “beats.”

There are 2-4 Officers on patrol around each beat.

In addition, there are 4 “Flex Officers” in unmarked cruisers patrolling the area, specifically parking lots.

Crime reports were reviewed – Crime is statistically down, though it does tend to spike in the winter months.

Ideas for the future:

These ideas were presented as starting points for discussion and are not to be taken as “this is going to happen” at this time.

Blocking Rogers St. on both sides of Baxter Ave. to thru traffic during late night hours. Residents would be allowed to come and go, but parking and walking to the Club would be prohibited.

Finding more off-street parking, perhaps by working on another phase of a pre-approved master plan that razes a house on the Club’s property and making an additional lot.

Work with local government officials and other business owners to build a parking garage. (Other cities with similar “entertainment district” have successfully done this.)

A number of residents from Rogers St. were in attendance. Throughout the night, they presented their concerns and provided examples of being awakened in the middle of the night, of vandalized property and other commotion. Ideas that residents suggested included foot patrols, bringing the Mounted Police back, and leaving porch lights on during the overnight hours.

The meeting was brought to a close after some additional discussions because the building was closing for the night.

Come down and groove to the First Annual RootsFest in Irish Hill. Live local music is on deck with the Appalachian-Latin fusion band, Appalatin along with Louisville Blues, Blues Chasers and old school bluegrass group, Bluegrass Messengers.

There will be fun for everyone including Local Art & Craft, Kids Craft Tent, Delicious Food from Gary’s on Spring, Four Roses Bourbon Tasting & Craft Beer.

Bring your lawn chair, the kids, the grandparents, your in-laws and your SHOES because funds raised will benefit WaterStep, formerly Edge Outreach. WaterStep trains individuals and organizations to provide safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Shoes, not just for dancing anymore, though it will be encouraged.

Thanks to everyone who came to the Irish Hill Festival. There was plenty of food, good music and a lot of conversation and catching up with friends.

A big THANK YOU goes to Baxter Avenue Baptist Church for hosting the Festival this year. It was a last minute put together, as our original plans fell through and we didn’t have time to get the proper Metro permits to hold it at Irish Hill Park or on one of the streets. The members of BABC did a wonderful job of getting everything setup, cooked and cleaned up afterwards. And it looks like the kids had a great time on the bouncy they provided! You guys are tops.

Did you get a chance to check out EDGE Outreach’s water purifying system? It’s amazing how a little bit of salt and a car battery can produce three (!) things to make the lives of people in third-world countries so much better: Clean water to drink, chlorine and lye which are by products manufactured in the water purification process that can be used to disinfect medical equipment and kill mosquito larvae, reducing the risk of death from unsanitary conditions and malaria. If you need more information about EDGE, please visit their website: http://edgeoutreach.org On their website, you can find locations to drop off old shoes, which they will use to fund their projects.

We welcome any feedback you would like to provide. Use the comment section below or send us a private message (email: info@irishhillneighbors.org). Thanks for supporting the Irish Hill Neighborhood.

Do you have a pile of old shoes taking up valuable space at your house? Don’t really know what do to with them? Turn them into water!

Sound impossible? It’s not. With the help of an organization right here in Irish Hill, your old and unwanted shoes can be turned into water. Bring your shoes to the Festival and be part of the transformation.

EDGE Outreach, located at 1500 Arlington Ave at the “edge” of Irish Hill (pun intended), provides affordable clean water in places were the water sources are contaminated and cause illness, spreads disease and leads to death. There are 1.1 BILLION people do not have safe water to drink. EDGE’s system provides a way for clean water using materials that are easy to get on an ongoing basis. They were instrumental in getting water to survivors and responders of the Haiti Earthquake, and were one of a very select group of organizations selected to help provide ongoing support in Operation Continuing Promise.

The Shoes for Water program has been collecting shoes at various locations around Louisville, including Heine Brothers Coffee, Porter Paints, churches and other businesses. EDGE takes these shoes and is able to sell them to an exporter that sends some pairs to third-world countries. The funds EDGE receives is used to get water purification systems where clean, healthy water is not available.

Collection bins will be available at the Iris Hill Festival on September 21, 2011. Representatives from EDGE Outreach will be on hand to show the filter system and answer any questions about what they do.